Martin O’Malley Covers Taylor Swift on The View

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley can’t get much attention for his flagging campaign for the Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination, but he’s at least trying to show he can stay current with the millennial voters who make up a critical part of his party’s base. Appearing on The View Tuesday morning, O’Malley noted that with Katy Perry playing at a rally for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa this weekend, he’d like to respond with some musical programming of his own.

O’Malley, who has a side career as the guitarist and singer of a Celtic rock band, pulled out a guitar and serenaded the View hosts with about 30 seconds of Taylor Swift‘s “Bad Blood.” The hosts and audience loved it, but O’Malley might want to update his pop references—in a recent interview with GQ, Swift hinted “Bad Blood” might not be the Katy Perry diss track it was initially thought as.

Via ABC News, here’s O’Malley covering Swift, giving “Bad Blood” a bit of his Irish-influenced lilt:

WATCH: @MartinOMalley just covered Taylor Swift on @TheView. https://t.co/29xnAQJgeo

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 20, 2015

For comparison’s sake, Ryan Adams turned “Bad Blood” into a folk-rock ballad.

Here’s the Swiftian original.

Will O’Malley’s quickie cover be enough to rebound his campaign? Tell us whose version of “Bad Blood” is best.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.